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Mary Mary, Something Big

2011 | Label: Columbia

07.28.11 “Walking,” the transcendent hit that’s the centerpiece of this gospel-crossover sister duo’s sixth studio album, is a piano-house sampling, light-soul-harmonizing argument for taking your time. And it’s not alone. “Something Big,” a holy-roller stomp over a Bo Diddley beat, opens the album then makes way for bee-buzzing electro-hopper “Something Bigger”; “Walking” itself precedes the humanely chattered domestic montage “Slow Walk,” then two more delectably nimble pop-soul numbers. The rest of the record owes almost as much to Destiny’s Child as to Jesus Christ. more »

Ginny Owens, If You Want Me To: The Best Of Ginny Owens

2006 | Label: Rocketown Records / The Orchard

04.22.11 This collection of the sight-impaired singer-songwriter's greatest hits is a delightful introduction to her varied charms. I only hope that fans of CCM realize how lucky they are that she is singing songs of praise. One of the most clichéd things you can say about a Christian performer is that they'd be a huge star if only they "sold out" and made secular music. With an artist like Ginny Owens, however — an incredibly talented musician who works within the genre conventions of mainstream pop — it's hard to avoid such thoughts. On "Open Arms," for instance, imagine if she were singing "he waits for me with open arms" rather than "He waits for me with open arms." But she… more »

Blind Boys Of Alabama, Retrospective

Label: IndieBlu Music / Entertainment One Distribution

04.22.11 The Blind Boys of Alabama were never the very best Golden Age-era a cappella gospel act. But they have always been master showmen — and to the general audience, they're perhaps best known just for being, for lasting this long. As ambassadors of this great American sound, they've been awarded all manner of small honors in their later days, from backing up popular musicians such as Ben Harper and Steve Earle to (most awesomely) recording the theme song for one of the seasons of The Wire. In gospel circles, the Blind Boys are known for their hard-singing, full-throated "shout" style. They're renowned as well for a series of incredibly weepy, sweeping paeans to a deceased mother figure ("If I… more »

The Staple Singers, Swing Low Sweet Chariot

2007 | Label: Vee-Jay Records / The Orchard

04.22.11 The Staple Singers 'second album consists of songs recorded in 1959 and 1961, and there's not a dud in the bunch. The Staples were a seasoned group by 1961, of course. Over the course of almost a dozen singles and the 1959 LP Uncloudy Day, the Chicago-based family gospel act had built a powerful bridge from the sanctified blues of the '20s and '30s to the mournful vocal stylings of contemporary acts like the Blind Boys and Highway QCs. But the Staples 'sepulchral yet bluesy sound was so original that their songs are instantly recognizable as theirs, and theirs alone.

For years now, some of the Staple Singers 'greatest music has inexplicably been out of print or suffered… more »